Latvijas Pasts has released a new stamp and a cover depicting Latvia’s first artificial earth satellite Venta 1. The first day cancellation of the stamp is scheduled to take place in Riga post office No. 50 located in the shopping mall Origo, 2 Stacijas laukums, from 8 AM to 7 PM on the 6th of October 2017 during the World Space Week.

The print run of the new stamp is 100,000 copies and its face value is € 0.85, which corresponds to the cost of sending a regular Class A letter to any country of the world outside the European Union. The release of the stamp is accompanied by the issue of a special cover with a print run of 1,500 copies. The new philatelic releases have been designed by the artist Ludis Danilāns.

Latvia’s first artificial earth satellite Venta 1 was launched into space in India on the 23rd of June this year and is expected to orbit the Earth for at least a year. The satellite is intended for trials related to the automatic identification system for vessel traffic, communication between satellites and the image capturing camera. Ventspils University College maintains communications with Venta 1.

The idea of Latvia’s first satellite was conceived nine years ago, and in 2008 Ventspils University College and Ventspils High Technology Park started it implementation, later also involving the Bremen City University of Applied Sciences. The aim of the earth satellite project is to develop engineering sciences and encourage young people to study information technology, electronics and satellite technology.

The stamp and the cover dedicated to the satellite Venta 1 can be viewed here.

The next philatelic release is scheduled for the 10th of October 2017.

About SJSC Latvijas Pasts

Latvijas Pasts ensures the widest availability of postal services throughout Latvia by maintaining more than 600 post offices. The primary function of the company is provision of the universal postal service; Latvijas Pasts also provides commercial transport, express mail, payment, press subscription, retail and philatelic services. Latvijas Pasts is a wholly State-owned company with more than 4,200 employees. The quality measurements of Latvijas Pasts domestic mail deliveries are regularly conducted by Kantar TNS, one of the leading market, social and media research agencies in Latvia. In turn, the quality measurements of the cross-border deliveries are provided within the framework of the International Post Corporation through the intermediary of the research companies Kantar TNS, Ipsos and Quotas.